Badlands

Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded.

[1] They are characterized by steep slopes, minimal vegetation, lack of a substantial regolith, and high drainage density.

Most are a result of natural processes, but destruction of vegetation by overgrazing or pollution can produce anthropogenic badlands.

[3][4] This is terrain in which water erosion has cut a very large number of deep drainage channels, separated by short, steep ridges (interfluves).

[5] The numerous deep drainage channels and high interfluves creates a stark landscape of hills, gullies, and ravines.

[4] Badlands arise from a combination of an impermeable but easily eroded ground surface, sparse vegetation, and infrequent but heavy rainfall.

The presence of bentonite clay further increases erodibility, as can rejuvenation of the drainage system from regional uplift, as occurred at Badlands National Park.

[citation needed] The word badlands is a calque from the Canadian French phrase les mauvaises terres, as the early French fur traders called the White River badlands les mauvaises terres à traverser or 'bad lands to traverse', perhaps influenced by the Lakota people who moved there in the late 1700s and who referred to the terrain as mako sica, meaning 'bad land' or 'eroded land'.

[12] The term malpaís means 'badlands' in Spanish,[13] but refers to a terrain of lava flows that is unlike the eroded badlands of the White River.

[17] The Valle de la Luna ("Valley of the Moon") is one of many examples of badland formations in midwestern Argentina.

It was voted by Chinese media outlets as one of the most beautiful landforms in China and became a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2019.

Some examples are Aliano (Basilicata), Crete Senesi (Tuscany) and Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio).

A well-known badlands formation in New Zealand – the Pūtangirua Pinnacles, formed by the erosion of the conglomerate of an old alluvial fan – is located at the head of a small valley near the southern tip of the North Island.

[28] Among the Henry Mountains area in Utah, about 4,900 ft (1,500 m) above sea level, Cretaceous- and Jurassic-aged shales are exposed.

[2] Another popular area of badland formations is Toadstool Geologic Park in the Oglala National Grassland located in northwestern Nebraska.